Watsi.org, Y Combinator's First Nonprofit
This Meeting's Highlights
Program: Watsi.org, Y Combinator's First NonprofitSpeaker: Chase AdamMeeting for the week of May 23rd to May 29th, 2016
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our meeting!Each Monday our week's meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 45 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you; read it while on public transit, waiting in line for coffee, or even at the park! Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
Welcome Members & Guests!
Message from our Club President
Greetings, all!Last week I was in northwest Arkansas in order to attend my nephew's high school graduation. Fayetteville High is a sizable school, and after entering the basketball arena of the University of Arkansas where the graduation was held, I settled in for several speeches and the reading of 600 or so names of those who had checked off all the necessary boxes to be considered graduates.One of the speakers was the superintendent of Fayetteville Public Schools, Dr. Paul Hewitt. He gave a short but powerful talk about possibilities and time, with a personal story that stood out for me.Some years ago, he'd been at the bedside of his dying father, who had looked at him and said, "It all went so fast."Dr. Hewitt encouraged the graduates to keep time in their busy lives, with so much vying for their attention, to slow down enough to see the beauty around them. It was a powerful story for me, and I think it carries an important message for all Rotarians.We dedicate ourselves to our families, work, and communities. We spend our extra time figuring out ways to create possibilities and creatively address issues that face our communities. We find ways to help those in need.And if we are to do it well in an ever-changing world, we also might hold dear the importance of regularly taking time to slow down, appreciate the people and world around us, and let that time be a wellspring of creativity and meaning.Rotarian guests, we ask that you consider contributing something - whatever for you is the regular cost of a Rotary meal, perhaps - to the efforts of our club. Please choose one of the options below:
Send via our secure Happy Dollars form.
Send via PayPal.
Send via Google Wallet* to: ecsv.rotary@gmail.com
Send via check to the mailing address, below.
* To pay via Google Wallet, you’ll need to log in to your account to donate.Those of you who prefer a more traditional approach can mail a check made out to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley to our treasurer: ℅ Allen Thompson, 13500 Cascade Ct., Bakersfield CA 93314.Non-Rotarian guests, there is no need for a donation from you. As we see it, your job is to simply enjoy what you read and watch, though at the end we do ask that you let us know you were here and also leave a comment letting us know what you think. This club is loaded with folks who love sharing ideas, and we look forward to your sharing yours!
Yours in service,
Rushton Hurley,
PresidentRotary eClub of Silicon Valley
The Power of Images
An image can capture a story or a possibility in wonderful and powerful ways, and we share one or more great images each week in the hope that it will inspire something for you!
This picture is by Camera Czar Keith, who has shared so many amazing photos with our club. It speaks to the thought that there can be amazing beauty all around us, wherever we go, if we just take the time to give it a good look.And for you photography folks, here are some details from Camera Czar Keith, who took the beautiful image above.
I have been specializing in astrophotograhy for about 4 years now and have developed a few special techniques that I am glad to share. [see more of his work here]
What is required is a good DSLR. I use a Nikon D700 with noise reduction. My lens is a Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, but any good wide angle lens will work if it is f2.8. I usually set mine at 16-18mm. A sturdy tripod is needed. My camera settings are: f2.8, 3200 ISO, 25 seconds on manual, noise reduction (on). My post production is in Photoshop with layers for the foreground and night sky. There are some good tutorials on YouTube on how to do the adjustments. Here is one I use by Kenneth Brandon.
The other key issue is to know when and where to shoot the Milky Way. I shoot around the New Moon so there is no moonlight. You also have to avoid city lights/light pollution. I use an app for my iPad called Star Walk to show me where the Milky Way will be in the sky and when.
The best way to learn it is to go out and give it a try. Make some mistakes and learn from them. Good luck.
We love it when folks help others learn - way to go, Keith!
The Power of Ideas
A good thought can inspire us to act in cool and innovative ways, and so we share quotes each week that we think might be inspiring to you.
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.- Dr. Seuss
One of the many things we learn when we take a moment to slow down is how to value what has happened, what we see before us, and what we might make happen going forward.
The Power of Water
One of Rotary's six areas of focus is providing clean water (the other areas are promoting peace, fighting disease, protecting mothers and children, supporting education, and growing local economies - learn about them all here).
In this video by the organization Charity: Water, you learn the story of an Ethiopian girl named Selam. Note that this is a 360-degree video, and that you can use the control in the upper left to look around the surroundings.
Who is the Selam in your life?
For Our Members: Reminders
Semi-annual Dues
We're getting close to that time, so please plan to respond quickly to our treasurer's message about dues for July to December when that note gets to you in the coming couple of weeks.
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we hold regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley every month! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of our events and service projects listed here. Also be sure to join our Meetup Group!
Sunday, June 5 - Help Meals on Wheels Service Project
Join us for a really fun night volunteering for A Taste of France, a gala fundraising for Meals on Wheels! On Sunday, June 5, some of the best chefs in Oakland will be serving their ever fantastic grub. There’s a silent as well as a live auction and it all takes place on the rooftop garden of the Kaiser Center in Oakland! There will be a volunteer training at 3:00 and the event runs from 4:00 – 7:30. Because this is such a big event, you’ll notice that you can pick from a wide range of roles.
Click here to sign up! The directions are on the right of the page. Once you’re signed up, feel free to let us know on the Meetup.
For Our Members: "Min-e-Grants"
This section is for club members only. We offer $250 grants for our club members to request for a service project members want to start up in their local community. We encourage this seed money as a way to get more collaboration and other organizations involved to make a positive impact locally.
If you know an honorable organization making good things happen in the community, and it’s one you try and put time into yourself, and you can find another Rotary club or other organization to match it, you can apply to the club for a grant of up to $250 to help with their work. For the full details and instructions on applying, visit the link below. Please note that this is only open to members of the club.
Rotary eClub of Silicon Vally Min-e-Grants
The World of Rotary
We are part of the Rotary International family, with over 1.2 million members in over 180 countries around the world. Rotary’s reach is global. Here we tell our members and guests about Rotary’s initiatives and events.
This section is our chance to share with our members and guests the great work of Rotarians, Rotary clubs, and The Rotary Foundation. For our newer Rotarians, it's a chance to learn more about this organization in which we take part. For veterans of any level, it's a chance to celebrate and inspire.
Polio Free Africa
Last August, Africa marked a year without any new cases of polio, making for a phenomenal moment in the international effort, in so many ways led by Rotary, to eradicate this horrible disease. This article from The Guardian in the UK is a good reflection on the work. The video below is a 45-second visual history of our work. Enjoy!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VntVJ_0rhwEWe'll keep donating to make sure we can get the final pieces of this puzzle in place - please do your part at any level to help!
The Object of Rotary
Is this something you knew?The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:
FIRST: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
SECOND: High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
THIRD: The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life;
FOURTH: The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
Click here to learn more about Rotary's guiding principles.
For Our Members: Service Survey
This section is dedicated for our members to report to us what service projects they have participated in recently. We love giving shoutouts to our members for the good work and the impact they’ve made in their local communities.
We all have opportunities each day to improve the lives of others. Doing so not only improves our lives, but can inspire others to do something good for someone in need. That is, if they hear about it! Please let us know by clicking below what you might have done, small or grand, so that we might get to know you a little better, and so that what you've done might inspire a guest or another member.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
Happy Dollars
Happy Dollars is the segment of our meeting where anyone can choose to make a voluntary donation to tell us a short story about something good that has happened to them this past week. Maybe someone paid for your coffee, gave you a ride somewhere, or you got a job promotion.
Got a piece of good news? If so, please share it with the club and toss a dollar or two into the Good Karma Jar to help with the efforts of our club.member Brian Liddicoat ($15)Big step in my legal career: I just won my first ever case at the California Court of Appeals (one level below the California Supreme Court). Much more complex and intimidating than ordinary trial court, but very rewarding. Now I have a case in my name: National Collegiate Student Loan Trust v Macias.member Rushton Hurley ($5)A shoutout to my nephew Turner for his high school graduation! Turner, I know you'll make us proud.member Linda Tangren ($15)I hope you are all registered to vote. "Keeping Democracy alive, one vote at a time."
Birthdays
For the sixth week in a row, we have a birthday. Serious craziness. Tuesday is the 24th, and that's the day for our membership chair and Prince of the Paella, Shags Shagrin!Shags, on your birthday in 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest was first held, starting the run for the longest-running international song contest in the world. We'll sing your praises with this year's winner, which folks may have heard about when news broke that the Russians objected that the Ukrainian winner's song had broken the rules by being political.
Members and guests, what do you think?
Image credit: TV Shows We Used To Watch - The Eurovision Song Contest by Paul Townsend from Flickr (CC by-sa 2.0)
A Little Humor
We try sharing something funny each week because we believe laughing is healthy! The key word in that last sentence was, "try."
Middle C, E-flat, and G walk into a bar. "Sorry," the bartender says to the E-flat, "we don’t serve minors here."- from MusicNotes.com
We hope that you were sharp enough to understand that joke, but even so, it may have fell flat for you. Ha ha ha ha ha.
The Tidbit
Our Tidbit section is designed to help you learn some technology or other trick to help you out in some way. This week, we honor the inner kindergartner in all of us with this search trick.
At least half our readers probably just left our meeting to hear animal noises at Google.
Selected Comments from Last Week
If someone you like asks you a friendly question, would you just turn away in silence? Probably not. At the end of each meeting, we who like you ask for your comment about our meeting and program, so we hope you will be sociable and let us know what you think!
Here are some thoughts about last week's meeting, and the program about the amazing Memory Project:From member Yvonne Kwan (California, USA):
"There are SO many cool things in this week's program! (Well, there are always cool things, but this week is even cooler.) The theme of youth and happiness that's woven throughout everything tugs at my heartstrings so much. The Disney aficionado in me loves the picture of Sleeping Beauty's castle but loves the story accompanying it even more. Whether you're a fan or not, it's hard to deny that something about Disney brings a magical twinkle to kids. Keith, that picture is absolutely precious and priceless! I had the great opportunity to see the Vivid Light shows in Sydney 2 years ago; they are just as breath-taking in person as on a screen. And last, but definitely not least, Ben -- what an AWESOME presentation!! I am blown away by the work that you do with the Memory Project. Although I've noticed how inundated we are with photos of our childhoods, I never stopped to think about how a lack of those photos could be so significant to a person's memories. I love that you tap into pools of high school art students to paint these portraits of children. It's the perfect win-win situation; these children get portraits and memories of themselves, and the high school students get warm fuzzies knowing that they positively impacted someone else's life directly. I could go on gushing forever about this, but I'll just end it here and say that I think you're well on your way to reaching your goal of one million photos. This is truly amazing work, and I'll be spreading it to all of the art teachers that I know."
From member Nate Gildart (Tokyo, Japan)
"This is amazing. It almost seems that by chance (your discussion with that adult former orphan) this incredible idea took root. I'll be putting the word out to our art teacher community here in Tokyo and back home. We tend to take for granted that our memories are (probably) the most cherished part of who we are as individuals. I'm simply amazed Ben."
From guest Randy Damewood (Tennessee, USA)
"Ben, What a great story. It goes to show, sometimes what we set out to do is not always what we NEED to do. My art teachers are getting your information and hopefully they will be able to work with your project next year."
From member Brian Liddicoat (California, USA)
"Absolutely beautiful: this is what Rotary is all about: bringing a happier life to those less fortunate."
From member Chris Cochrane (Ontario, Canada)
"Great Tidbit! Using it to open the Siri function on my iPhone so I can dictate this comment. Ben, an update...my friend, Doug, returns to Jordan on May 23. He's looking forward to introducing you to the right people at the Canadian Embassy there, especially those who work directly with Syrian refugees."
From guest Racquel Juncal (Costa Rica)
"Definitely an interesting project that plays an important role in community psychology by indirectly promoting protective factors in mental health for children and teenagers. Art is a process of the spiritual self, a creative way through which can significantly enrich the psyche. An interesting alternative to this project could be art therapy in order to restore confidence in their creative and healing abilities."
From member Linda Diekman (Illinois, USA)
"17,000 pictures last year alone! Ben, I think your goal of a million pictures in your lifetime is doable! Thanks for your inspiring message."
From member Ferheen Abbasi (Osaka, Japan)
"Ben, wow. What a phenomenal story! Thank you so much for your presentation. I am honestly amazed at the wonderful work people are doing to help others in this world. I watched the Vimeo video and looking at the sheer joy on those children's faces was heartwarming. I can't even imagine how awesome it must be to get a painted portrait of yourself! "Look! That's me!" Thank you for spreading happiness!"
From member Linda Tangren (California, USA)
"Truly an inspirational and heartwarming story! I am always amazed by the people we meet through our club meetings. Ben, you remind us of the people around the world who may need care and comfort, but also need their memories preserved for them. Thank you! Rushton, the happiest place on earth and it didn't lift your spirits? You take a "life lesson" from your experience at Disneyland, so it wasn't a total loss."
From member Richard Knaags (Cape Town, South Africa)
"Hey Rushton....how can you not like Disneyland! :) Beautiful pictures in this meeting and such a beautiful story with such and incredibly moving purpose Ben. I have emailed your story to my art teachers and tweeted the Vimeo. Please contact me - rknaggs@parklands.co.za- (Yes, Rushton you know me too well, I am super excited about this.) Ben, I can email this story and your details to a huge database of South African schools as well so they can hopefully contribute. I am just not sure how you would receive the portraits from South Africa as you seem to mainly get portraits from the US. Is this possible? As you probably know there are also a huge number of poor people living in informal settlements in South Africa and many orphanages. I will speak to my Interact team and they can possibly become a photographic team that can visit orphanages for you in Cape Town. Let us help children to remember the beauty of their childhood."
From member Shags Shagrin (California, USA)
"Amazing program! Fellow members: you should try to join in when they are being recorded to add to the conversation!"
The Program
Every week we work to bring you the stories of those making a difference for others, wherever they are, in order to inspire everyone who connects with us.
Our members (and even some of our guests) connect us with fascinating people doing inspiring things. These stories become our programs, which are shared around the world. If you know someone doing something inspiring, let us know so we can give that person a stage!
This week we have Chase Adam telling us the story of Watsi, a nonprofit that enables anyone to fund healthcare for people around the world, and thoughts on how we can use technology to bring healthcare to people in need. Watsi was the first nonprofit funded by Y Combinator https://www.ycombinator.com/ and in Watsi's first three years they have raised more than $6M for 7.5k patients around the world.Before the age of 21, Chase traveled, worked, or studied in more than 20 countries around the world. He spent time in private sector intelligence in Washington, helped start a national health program in Haiti, and served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica. He tells us that he's rarely the smartest person in the room, but he’s usually pretty good at figuring out who is.Members and guests, please welcome Chase Adam!
You can learn more about Watsi at their website.
Upcoming Programs
Week of May 30th: Jan Eric Nordmo - The State of the Union on Sports
Week of June 6th: Darren Collins - Project HAND UP: Using Puppets to Teach Health Education
You’re Almost Done! One last thing: The Attendance Survey..
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done. First, we have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you though.More importantly, for all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment below in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
